Scattered protests kicks off anti-fracking campaign

FILE - In this March 29, 2013 file photo, workers tend to a well head during a hydraulic fracturing operation at an Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. gas well outside Rifle, in western Colorado. The Obama administration is proposing a rule that would require companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. The new "fracking" rule replaces a draft proposed last year that was withdrawn amid industry complaints that fede
— AP

FILE - In this March 29, 2013 file photo, workers tend to a well head during a hydraulic fracturing operation at an Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. gas well outside Rifle, in western Colorado. The Obama administration is proposing a rule that would require companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. The new "fracking" rule replaces a draft proposed last year that was withdrawn amid industry complaints that fede
/ AP

In scattered protests across California, activists made new appeals Thursday to ban access to untapped reservoirs of oil and natural gas using advanced extraction techniques known as "fracking."

Two protesters met outside the San Diego office of state assembly member Toni Atkins to turn in a petition against hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." They were working in concert with Californians Against Fracking, a recently announced coalition of social justice and environmental groups.

"We don't need to be getting these dirty energy schemes into our state when we could go for clean energy," said Patricia Law, an organizer with moveon.org and part of the coalition. "We're the sunshine city here, so why not go solar."

Fracking refers in to a process of pumping water, sand and chemicals underground through horizontally drilled wells to break apart rock formations and release natural gas or oil.

State lawmakers are considering legislation to hold back fracking, as oil companies push to develop previously unreachable hydrocarbons, principally in the Monterey shale formation across central California. Gov. Jerry Brown has been noncommittal on the expansion of fracking in California.